But now to our top story tonight. Also a 360 exclusive. Dr. Conrad Murray, Michael Jackson's former physician, a man with the training to save lives and the solemn duty to preserve it. The question is, did he fail on both counts? A jury thought so, convicted him of involuntary manslaughter in the death of Michael Jackson.

He is appealing that verdict, even as a civil lawsuit begins today. Jackson's mother and children suing the concert promoter AEG Live with big money at stake. And Dr. Murray could be at the center of that trial, if he's willing to testify.

Tonight, only on 360, his first interview since being imprisoned. But first, Randi Kaye has the background starting with that fateful call to 911.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The desperate 911 call came from inside Michael Jackson's rented mansion. It was just before 12:30 p.m., June 25th, 2009 in Los Angeles.

KAYE: Immediately the investigation focuses on Dr. Murray. The cardiologist hired to care for the pop star during his upcoming concert tour. In July 2009, a major bombshell. A source tells CNN Dr. Murray gave Michael Jackson the powerful sedative, Propofol, within 24 hours of his death. Propofol is usually administered through an I.V. drip and produces such a comatose state, it isn't supposed to be used outside a hospital setting.

In August, Dr. Murray makes his first public comments since his star patient's death.

CONRAD MURRAY, MICHAEL JACKSON'S PHYSICIAN: I have done all I could do. I told the truth and I have faith the truth will prevail.

KAYE (on camera): According to the police affidavit, Conrad Murray told detectives he'd been treating Michael Jackson for insomnia for weeks. He said he tried lots of other drugs, but that the pop star demanded Propofol. On the day he died, Conrad Murray said he gave Jackson 25 milligrams of it at 10:40 in the morning. 911 was called less than two hours after that.

(Voice-over): Michael Jackson's death is officially ruled a homicide. In February, 2010, Dr. Conrad Murray is charged with involuntary manslaughter. He pleads not guilty.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dr. Murray did not cause the death of Michael Jackson.

KAYE: That would be up to a jury to decide. In September 2011, more than two years after Michael Jackson's death, Conrad Murray goes to trial. Jackson's former head of logistics testifies Murray was hiding vials at Jackson's home before paramedics arrived.

ALBERTO ALVAREZ, MICHAEL JACKSON'S FORMER HEAD OF LOGISTICS: He reached over, grabbed a handful of vials, and then he reached out to me and said here, put these in a bag.

KAYE: Murray's own iPhone recording of Jackson from May 10th, 2009, was played in court. Jackson sounds wasted and is slurring his words. Listen.

MICHAEL JACKSON, KING OF POP: I love them. I love them because I didn't have a childhood. I had no childhood. I feel their pain. I feel their hurt.

KAYE: Dr. Murray's interview with detectives is also played for the jury.

MURRAY: I needed to go to the bathroom. Then I came back to his bedside and was stunned in the sense that he wasn't breathing.

KAYE: On November 7th, 2011, Dr. Conrad Murray is found guilty of involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to four years in prison.

(On camera): But it doesn't end there. Michael Jackson's mother and children are bringing a wrongful death lawsuit against AEG, the concert promoter for Jackson's doomed comeback tour. Katherine Jackson says AEG is to blame for the loss of her son. The whole case may hinge on an e-mail written just 11 days before Michael Jackson's death. It could be a smoking gun.

(Voice-over): In the e-mail, AEG's CEO tells the show's director to remind Dr. Murray what is expected of him, and that AEG is paying his salary. Jackson's family believes AEG pressured Murray, even threatened his $150,000 a month job as the singer's personal physician. All so Michael Jackson could rehearse, despite his fragile health. AEG denies this, saying it was Jackson who chose and handled Murray.

Michael Jackson died just two weeks before his tour was set to open in London.

Randi Kaye, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Well, joining us now by phone right now from the Los Angeles county jail is Conrad Murray. Also with us, his attorney, Valerie Wass.

Dr. Murray, appreciate you being with us. There are a lot of questions I'd like to ask you obviously about this AEG Live trial. I know you can't answer them or won't. Have you been subpoenaed to testify in the trial and would you in fact be willing to give testimony in this trial if you were?

MURRAY: At this time, I have not been subpoenaed, and I am not interested in giving testimony in the trial.

COOPER: Why is that?

MURRAY: I will not -- I will invoke my Fifth Amendment right because at this time there is an appeal that is in progress and depends on what happens to that. You know, thee is -- in the event that there is a future trial, I do not want to have any issues of self-incrimination.

COOPER: I want to ask you about that appeal coming up. But first, just a couple other questions. At the heart of this trial, the AEG trial, is a simple question. Were you an AEG employee, someone they had a responsibility for, or were you an employee of Michael Jackson? Can you answer that question?

COOPER: OK. I understand that. Can I ask you, do you know -- I mean, do you know the answer to that question?

MURRAY: Absolutely.

COOPER: OK. You've always maintained your innocence, Dr. Murray, and as I said, you're appealing the decision. I do want to get to that. But do you feel any guilt over the death of Michael Jackson?

MURRAY: I am an innocent man, Anderson. I maintain that innocence. I must tell you, I am extremely sorry that Michael has passed on. It's a tremendous loss for me. It's a burden I have been carrying for the longest while and it's a burden I will carry for an indefinite period of time. The loss is just overwhelming. He was very close to me, I was close to him. He was an absolutely great friend.

And to be honest, I became a sounding board for Michael. He offloaded and regurgitated everything that was bad in his past and everything that was dark. And I have been the absorbent capacity for that. He has --

COOPER: Was that part of the problem --

MURRAY: And I carried those --

(CROSSTALK)

COOPER: Was that part of --

MURRAY: Those secrets --

COOPER: Was that part of the problem that --

MURRAY: I carried in my heart for him.

COOPER: Was that part of the problem that you felt you were a friend to him? As a doctor, is it proper to be friends with a patient?

WASS: I don't want him to answer that, either.

COOPER: OK.

WASS: I don't want to get into anything that could possibly incriminate him.

COOPER: OK. Let me ask you about Propofol. As you know, it's supposed to be administered in a hospital. It's a sedative used for surgery and you certainly were not the first doctor to give Michael Jackson Propofol. But you did order a lot of it. And as a doctor who swore to do no harm, I guess I just still don't understand how you could give this clearly troubled person this powerful sedative in a non-hospital setting?

MURRAY: I think that's a very good question, Anderson. The thing about it is I -- nobody knows but I basically was doing my endeavor to get Michael away from Propofol. Yes, indeed, I did order Propofol to his home but I was not the one that brought Propofol into his home. I met him at his own stash.

I did not agree with Michael, but Michael felt that, you know, it was not an issue because he had been exposed to it for years and he knew exactly how things worked. And given the situation at the time, it was my approach to try to get him off of it, but Michael Jackson was not the kind of person you can just say put it down and he's going to do that.

MURRAY: So my entire approach may not have been an orthodox approach, but my intentions were good.

COOPER: As a doctor, though, aren't you the one who is supposed to be in a position to say to a patient, I will no longer treat you if you do not follow my instructions? Because from the time you got hired in March of 2009, according to prosecutors, you started ordering Propofol in April and between then and June, you ordered more than four gallons of the stuff.

MURRAY: You see, Anderson, the whole story was not told in court. I was offered to be Michael's doctor on the tour in December of 2008, and you know. And even after that, the contract said I worked from May to June, but certainly I worked before that.

COOPER: But you did order all that Propofol.

MURRAY: So there -- there is Propofol that I met his home and I used it. Certainly, you know, again, as I said, I was trying to take the item away from Michael that he -- he could have a more normal lifestyle. It did not agree with him, whether it was on the concert tour or not. I did not. You know, was it rough for me the day after -- again, in retrospect but my intentions were to get the thing away and I succeeded. I was able to wean him off of it. That was three days before he passed away. There was absolutely no Propofol given to that man.

COOPER: But you keep saying you were helping him sleep. Propofol, though, doesn't actually restore someone's body. They don't -- I mean, sleep, you go into REM sleep, it's a dream state, you're actually restored when you wake up. Propofol basically shuts your brain off and acts as a depressant on your central nervous system. So while you say you were helping him sleep, he actually wasn't waking up recharged, correct?

MURRAY: That's a good question again. If you look at my police interview, two and a half hours, I mentioned that I explained to Michael that this is an artificial way of considering sleep. It was basically sedation, minimal sedation.

COOPER: So it wasn't actually helping him rest.

MURRAY: Well, you know, again, as I said, I met Michael in the situation. My approach of getting it away from him may not have met -- been satisfactory to you but I succeeded up until three days prior to him passing, I was able to get him off of that. There was some other issues. Surreptitiously Michael -- in retrospect, that I learned, I didn't know he was an addict, he was going to Dr. Kline's office and being loaded up with humongous, you know, levels of Demerol.

COOPER: I know you're talking about --

MURRAY: And that was his addiction. And basically this (INAUDIBLE) was causing his insomnia and -- because that's a huge side effect.

COOPER: You're talking about Dr. Arnie --

(CROSSTALK)

MURRAY: What's that?

COOPER: You're talking about Dr. Arnie Kline.

MURRAY: Yes.

COOPER: Who did not testify at the trial and I know that's part of your appeal which I want to talk to you about after the break. But you said that you didn't know that Michael Jackson was taking other drugs. I mean there were prescription bottles all around his bed from other doctors, and I think any outside observer who didn't even have any medical access to Michael Jackson could have probably told you -- I mean, anybody looking at Michael Jackson over the years could probably tell you he was doing something.

You're saying you had no clue he was taking other drugs?

MURRAY: What I tell you, you know, I don't think the question as asked is accurate. If I went to your medicine cabinet now, Anderson, or in your home, I can find pills that maybe your doctor gave you six months ago or a year ago. And you may not be taking it. That does not mean you're seeing the physician.

COOPER: Right, but, sir, you would not find Ativan and Valium and things which are depressants and things which can actually slow your breathing which in addition to taking Propofol can actually cause cardiac arrest.

MURRAY: Well, let's look at the testament. I -- there were Ativan pills that were prescribed to Michael that my name was on those bottles and there were directions how to take them. But there were other pills that they found in the room and some of the items that they found and placed in evidence, I did not even see them. If you look at what happened in the crime scene or the house scene, these are (INAUDIBLE). The coroner's investigator admitted that she was moving items without a glove and putting them in different areas and taking pictures.

So when you saw them on the nightstand, that's not exactly where she's found them. They were not actually in my view.

COOPER: The other thing that prosecutors have said, and that your defense said that Michael Jackson self-administered a fatal dose of Propofol. That was your defense. The jury did not believe that or prosecutors also said even if that was true, the fact that you left this patient alone with Propofol in his condition was negligent.

Do you feel again any guilt about leaving him alone?

MURRAY: Let's talk about that. First of all, I did not leave Propofol for him to access. I did not leave Propofol for him to reach and get it. I did not leave Propofol in a drip. There was nothing like that. Even though Dr. Schafer during the trial said that he could have gotten up and used a roller, and open up, and somebody said he could reach up and find it, I left nothing such -- no such item in his reach. He was not on a Propofol infusion or a drip. Not at all. Absolutely zilch.

COOPER: But you're saying you didn't leave Propofol within his reach. How long were you gone for that he was somehow able to go somewhere in his room, according to your defense, find Propofol, get an injectable and inject it into himself?

MURRAY: Basically, when I left Michael, there was no further requirement for me to monitor Michael. There was no monitoring requirement for a patient who does not have heart failure or cardiomiopathy or some other condition where they have fluid retention, they have renal failure that requires monitoring when you're on a normal saline drip which is plain salt water.

COOPER: So you continue to maintain you did not give Michael Jackson Propofol on the day he died?

MURRAY: I did not give Michael Jackson a Propofol drip. Around 10:40 that day, after he really begged and cried and he looked so -- it was such a painful condition to see this man that was about to lose his entire potential, his fortune and empire, I agreed to give him a 25 milligram slow injection. That was it. You know? He -- I was not even expecting to give him sedation but he got it. He was sedated, he went to sleep and I watched him. I sat there for at least 30 minutes.

I was able to speak on the phone, accept calls. He was fine. Everything was great. When I left his bedside, I was absolutely comfortable that Propofol was no longer a factor. Done.

COOPER: We have to take a break.

MURRAY: I did not go outside of the -- of the master suite. The master suite is subdivided, it has a foyer, has a bedroom, it has a sitting area in the bedroom. The adjacent room is a dressing suite, then it goes into the vanity and the toilet and the bath which is further down the road.

You know, I wanted this man to sleep. And once I was comfortable and I moved away from his bedside, he was about to -- yes, I stayed in the adjacent chamber and I used the phone, et cetera, et cetera, but I was not worried about him. Actually, I was already packed and ready to go home.

COOPER: But again, you're using that word sleep, and again, Propofol doesn't make somebody sleep. So I know you weren't giving -- you say you were trying to reduce the amount you were giving him over time, but --

(CROSSTALK)

MURRAY: Let's change it and let's call it minimal sedation. COOPER: All right. We have to take a break, Dr. Murray. We're going to take a short break. And I want to talk to you, I want to talk to your attorney about your appeal and some other things when we come back.

Again, just a short break. Also, later, more breaking news in the shooting of the Texas district attorney and his wife. An account from a neighbor that you'll only see right here about what happened shortly before the murders. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: And welcome back. We're talking exclusively tonight with Dr. Conrad Murray, now serving a four-year sentence for involuntary manslaughter in the death of Michael Jackson. He is going to be appealing that verdict. He hopes to get his medical license back. I'm going to talk to him about his appeal.

Jury selection in a civil trial just got under way today. Jackson's mother and kids suing AEG Live which is the concert promoters who are managing the pop star's comeback. The Jackson family says that they were responsible for hiring and keeping Dr. Murray. AEG maintains that it did not employ Murray, that Jackson himself did, and therefore, they are not liable.

Again, Dr. Conrad Murray joining us by phone from jail, along with Valerie Wass, his attorney here in New York.

Dr. Murray, I think, you know, there is a perception out there, and I want you to be able to respond to it. I think a lot of people here that you had debts, that you were going to be paid $150,000 a month to care for Michael Jackson while he was giving those concerts, and because of that, you were basically willing to do whatever he asked, giving him the Propofol which, as you say, is highly unusual. No -- really no other doctor except one other case I have ever heard of would recommend or give Propofol in the way you did in a home setting, with the kind of equipment you had.